The first carbon nanotubes were synthesized using an arc-plasma in 1991. Since that time, carbon nanotubes have been synthesized using laser vaporization, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), electrochemical synthesis and doped acetylene diffusion flames.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,985,232 and 6,162,411 to Howard et al. relate to methods for synthesizing fullerenic nanostructures in laminar or diffusion flames. The methods include the combusting of various unsaturated hydrocarbon fuels with oxygen and the collecting of the fullerenic nanostructures by means of a probe inserted in the post-flame zone which includes the tail of the flame.